WASHINGTON — Hundreds gathered peacefully in the nation's capital on Saturday afternoon to protest President Trump's attempted takeover of the city's police department and deployment of National Guard units alongside federal agents.
Starting with a rally in the northwest neighborhood of DuPont Circle, protesters chanted, "Shame" and "Trump must go now!" while demanding an end to the "crime emergency" that Trump declared in an executive order on Monday.
Protesters later marched to the White House, continuing to chant, as D.C. Metropolitan Police officers and National Park Service police looked on from a distance.
Mason Weber of Maryland told NPR he attended the march because he was concerned that the deployment of troops is a "serious ethical and legal breach."
"The most concerning thing about it is there's been no check and balance of the systems of power," Weber said. "Congress, if it comes to it, we expect to authorize it for longer."
The demonstration took place two days after Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to appoint Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole as an "emergency police commissioner" who would assume full operational control over D.C. police. Trump officials backed off that effort on Friday after D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit in federal court.
"The hostile takeover of our police force is not going to happen — a very important win for home rule today," Schwalb told reporters late Friday.
But people who marched on Saturday said the successful effort to prevent the White House from appointing an emergency police chief controlled by Trump doesn't go far enough.
The deployment of the National Guard and Trump's growing influence over D.C. police activities are being decried by D.C. residents — including John Smith, who said Trump is exaggerating about the city being riddled with crime.
"I think he doesn't know what he's talking about," Smith said. "I'm a little old white man and I walk around safely all the time."
Catherine Ernst told NPR she's lived in the D.C. area for seven years and thinks it's important to show opposition. She was also hoping for a larger turnout.
"It's a lot better than lying down and letting it happen. We need more people in the movement to stop what's happening," Ernst said.
Sam Goldman, spokesperson for Refuse Fascism, a group that helped organize the march, told NPR that it's time for more people to make their voices heard.
"We have to turn the tide. We have to wake up all the decent people in this country, including in Washington, D.C.," Goldman said. "Millions and millions in our bones hate everything that Trump and MAGA represent, everything they've done and everything they're doing."
Goldman also said her group is planning for more protests in D.C. in the coming weeks.
Abigail Jackson, a spokeswoman for the White House, told NPR in a statement Saturday, "Only D.C. liberals would be upset about efforts to stop violent crime — hopefully they were paid well to beclown themselves in public like this."
Meanwhile, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, said on Saturday he has agreed to send 300 to 400 of his state's National Guard troops to D.C. to support Trump's crackdown. Over the weekend South Carolina's governor also announced he was sending 200 troops, while Ohio pledged 150.
Earlier in the week, Vermont's Republican Gov. Phil Scott denied a similar request for National Guard troops to support the Washington deployment.
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